Authority of the Church? Part 2
Our Faith has been around since before God created Man (Satan was in charge of songs of worship before his fall). We were not the first to worship our God. The angels were created first. Our Church or faith is older than our actual creation. We perverted that worship many times over. Yeshua is the beginning and the head, in the fact that he is the living God (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost). Many think that there was a new church created by our Messiah. But the date of our true faith is much older indeed.
This is not the creation of a new God, Church or faith. It is an assembly made to bring us around to the original.
Isa 56:7 these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.
Jer 7:11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the LORD
Once again the house spoken of is not a new church but the Temple of God.
Mat 21:13 He said to them, It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers.
Also Yeshua is God, weather in human body or not. He has been around in one shape or form since the beginning. What came first, this church as many know it today, or God? Was the church created for man to worship in his own way, or were we meant to worship our God in Gods way? If it is the same God, in NEW YET PROMISED FORM, HOW CAN IT BE A NEW CHURCH? Is God never changing, and everlasting no matter what form he is in? It’s like people who say the scripture changes each time they read it to fit their life accordingly, but it’s not the scripture that changes. We are the ones who change. If that’s true, isn’t it the same here? The assembly, or faith (church) never change’s we do And we weren’t ready to handle all of it. And so we got it a piece at a time. Doesn’t that make more sense and fit better into the history of our Holy Bible? And if that’s the case how much can we handle now? Is it finished? Has our Messiah fulfilled everything?
Our Faith was not created for us, but we were created for it. If God created us, and our assembly is the faith in that God, how could we ever be so arrogant to think that a Church was made just for us? Its like saying God is our servant. God promises to care for, and watch over us. God Loves, and helps us. He was not created to serve us, but we were created to serve him. Faith in God is for all mankind. But many seem to be under the delusion that it wasn’t that way from the beginning.
Gen 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
Even in the Old testament the nation of Israel was to be the light of the world.
Psa 72:10 May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts
Psa 72:15 Long may he live; may gold of Sheba be given to him May prayer be made for him continually, and blessings invoked for him all the day
Isa 60:3 And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
When the Israelites were exiting EGYPT God preformed many miracles, signs and wonders. Not just for the Israelites, but to show the world He was the one true God. The only thing that separated the Israelites with the rest of the world was their belief in the One True God. Abraham wasn’t a Hebrew until he believed in God.
The mistake I think most seem to be laboring under is whether or not there was ever a separation in the Faith, or that there was ever supposed to be a separation in the faith. I can find many instances in the Bible referring to the believers as Jews, nation of Israel, and the like. I can even find the Nazarene sect of the Faith in the one true God.
Act 24:5 For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes:
Act 28:22 But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against.
Act 28:23 And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.
I can even find Christian.
Act 11:26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.
Act 26:28 And Agrippa said to Paul, In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?
1Pe 4:16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.
But I have a hard time finding any other name for faith in God. Where is Baptist, catholic, Protestant, or the like? In Judah the term Jew meant he who has faith in God. If you’re not that then you might want to do some serious contemplating. Also many seem to think the Jews were meant to become gentiles, but it is the other way around:
Act 15:21 For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.
THE GENTILES WERE TO LEARN THE WAYS OF THE FAITH FROM THE PEOPLE THAT AT THIS TIME WERE CALLED JEWISH BELIEVERS OR JEWS.
Isa 9:1 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
Isa 9:2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.
Isa 42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.
Isa 49:1 Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name.
Isa 9:2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.
Isa 11:10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples--of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
Isa 65:1 I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, Here am I, here am I, to a nation that was not called by my name.
We were to be taught the existing faith, not a new one. Yeshua was to restore the Faith to what it was meant to be.
Many point to the New Covenant and say that this proof that we have a new church. But to say this, is to forget the fact that the New Covenant was specifically promised, and given to Israel:
Jer 31:31 Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
Jer 31:32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.
Jer 31:33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jer 31:34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Isa 49:6 he says: It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.
We are not joint heirs, just heirs. No new God, Church, or Body, just adding to the existing Faith. We were to be added to the existing covenant’s. Heirs adopted into the covenant, no longer gentiles or those of foreign beliefs. To be taught all the ways of God. Which was not the case in the time before the Messiah (or so was taught by man), Jews coveted their teachings and personal relationship with the One True God. Now they had to share. We are to follow the True Will of God, not to create our own. Believers, who follow, worship, and praise God. Believers who believe in the promised Messiah, and His Salvation. Believers who seek the truth and follow all of God’s Will. Not just the ones we choose. No longer gentile believers, just believers.
Many of these commandments that are taught by the false doctrines to replace the old covenant and commandments were in fact just to be the beginning of the Gentile believer’s doctrine. Gentiles unlike the Jews were not brought up in the true faith of God. So they needed to be brought in slowly with what they could handle. This is why we have but a few commandments based on the old in the New testament addressed to gentile Believers. Also I would like to point out that almost all of the Old commandments that are thought to be, done away with, are indeed mentioned or represented in the New. And to teach the belief that the new covenant does away with the old is very dangerous indeed. Because if it did, we are all in trouble. If a new covenant does away with the old, then every time it rains we should be heading to a boat just incase. Out of fear of another world wide flood
Avram Yehoshua OF Ramat Gan, ISRAEL wrote - “To understand the New Covenant from the Hebraic Perspective is to see it as an extension of the Old, not a completely new and separate reality as the Church has taught for 1,900 years. To fully understand the New Covenant is to see it as a rose on the stem of the Old Covenant, both thriving and alive.”
In the beginning God created man. He gave them one commandment and as long as they followed this one commandment then they were innocent. This was the first covenant God made with man. Then Man fell away. So God looked and found only one person that would listen to him so he had him build an ark, and then preceded to destroy the earth with a flood. After this, God made a new covenant with man to never destroy the earth with a flood again. Moving forward, we come to Abraham. And once again we see another new covenant with man. Then there’s the covenant with Isaac, then Moses and so on. If one destroys the other, what are we now left with? Is God a liar? For most of these covenants were stated to be everlasting. So how then, can we believe, that the new covenant did away with the old? Does it then make more sense that it doesn’t, and all covenants just add to the others to make a perfect covenant, or a fulfilled covenant?
If the church is the finial authority, then why does the Church as we know it have so many Pagan beliefs? Such as Sunday instead of Sabbath, Easter, Christmas, the Cross, and steeple just to name a few? As a matter of fact there is a prophecy in Daniel that speaks of this very thing:
Dan 7:25 He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.
And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times (feasts) and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
This tells of the corruption that has in so many cases become the church.
Avram Yehoshua OF Ramat Gan, ISRAEL wrote - “Understanding the Scriptures from a Hebraic perspective reveals to us how the Messiah calls us to walk with Him, both Jew and Gentile. There is more to the Word than initially meets our eye. And there is more to the Word that does and would effect us, to walk in His Way, if we only understood what the Church intentionally buried 1,900 years ago, and continually demonizes. For it’s by our understanding that we follow the Lord and obey His Will, the Scriptures. But if our understanding is faulty on a grand scale, involving not just us but everyone around us, we all fail to do His Will at those points of ignorance and satanic deception.”
The Revelation at Mt. Sinai, with God taking a wife (Israel), and sharing with her His desire for her (His Commandments, Words), reveals the Will of God. No other people had this. And no other people walked in this relationship, for better, and more times than not, for worse (due to Israel’s carnal nature, sins of rebellion and disobedience to God’s Law), than Israel. Does God’s will on sin change? Is He not the same yesterday, today and forever? So how can one possibly think that Sabbath has given way to Sunday? Where is any Scripture in the New Testament to declare such a major change? Where do we get the idea that we now have a whole new church? There is not one Scripture in the New Testament that decrees it as such.
Torah is the epitome of God’s Love to Israel. God has revealed Himself to His people and in this, He has revealed what is pleasing to Him and what is sin in His eyes.
Yeshua, far from destroying or replacing the Law claims to uphold it
Mat 5:17 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Mat 5:18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
Mat 5:19 Therefore whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Yeshua teaches us that the Law is God’s definition of love: ‘On these two Commandments’ (love God and love your neighbor), ‘hang the whole Law and the Prophets.’ Every law, every Commandment, every statute, has its ‘reason for being’ in showing us how to love God, or how to love each other. Each and every one of them.
Mat 22:37 And he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the great and first commandment.
Mat 22:39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.
With the coming of Messiah did that change? The only thing that changed, or was given the ability to change, was man. We were given the opportunity to die to self as spoken of in Romans chapter six. So that we might live in Messiah and walk as he walked.
1Jn 3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
1Jn 3:2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
1Jn 3:3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
1Jn 3:4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
1Jn 3:5 You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
Now, with His Spirit residing within, we can follow Him. We can be like Him. Was it sin for Him is sin for us? How could it not be sin for us then? Would it matter if one was born a Gentile? Since when does race determine what is sin and what is not? God determines what is sin, for all.
The word is the final authority, not the Church, because as we have seen many times throughout history, our assemblies do not get things right very often. That is why we have the Word, Laws, and commandments. It is by the authority of the church that the Word of God has been perverted throughout history, to slaughter untold numbers of innocent people. Man must never think that he has authority over the Word of God. That is one of the main points of our Messiah’s ministry, to remove the false teachings of man. And how do we repay him? By doing the same thing all over again!
In the Churches of man ( that so many have become) Men have the authority. Many of these churches define themselves in ways that are not truly found in scripture. And in these cases’ men have authority over the man-made church. But in assemblies that truly follow God then God has all authority. If man creates an assembly, then man can govern it, but if God creates an assembly then God controls it.
We have no authority without God, his Word, commandments, and Laws. God is the authority, we only get any resemblance of authority, if God is actually dwelling in us, and we are actually acting by his Will set forth by his Word. God does not follow men. Men follow God
As we go forth and test these new ideas in Scripture let us pray that our Father gives us His Spirit of wisdom, understanding, and truth. So we may see and walk as our Messiah walked, and be true disciples in the Name of Yeshua (Jesus). May we pray for eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to change for the glory of our Father
